Zoe Jia-YuDai

Breaking the 3D Mould

Zoe Jia-Yu Dai, is a footwear designer who began her career in London, UK and now based in Taiwan,in the Asia-Pacific region. She was the prestigious winner of The Cordwainers Dato' JIMMY CHOO AWARD in 2014. Also, Zoe Jia-Yu Dai is a Bronze A' Design Award Winner for 3D Printed Forms and Products Design Category in 2015.

Zoe graduated from the London College of Fashion with a Master of Arts in Footwear Design in January 2015. Prior to taking the Masters course in London, she was trained in footwear production at the Innovation Incubation Center of International Textile & Fashion Design in Taiwan. Zoe expanded her design experiences by designing a series of personal works and cooperating with manufacturers to present her own collection of works and presenting her collections of work pieces in exhibitions. Therefore, she possesses a comprehensive set of technical knowledge in footwear construction and pattern designs.

Zoe has been interested in the possible applications of 3-D printing technology for many years, and uses her shoe designs to combine this technology with a high level of craftsmanship using traditional shoe making techniques. Zoe's inspiration to create a partly 3-D printed shoe came from a desire to look at ways to change and challenge the process of footwear manufacture. It was clear that 3-D printing could not only achieve this, but would also allow a large amount of flexibility in the design stage. This allowed Zoe as a designer to push the limits of design structures.